Not at all, Cliff. In fact, I think 300 days and three years is healthy. A good pace. And right in line with most organizations. I am pointing out shodan programs that approach near four times that amount need to be examined. At present USAF requires a total of 1140 days.

I think as we move into the future, I, at least, would say that anyone who's having to train over 1000 days for shodan - is having their time and money wasted. A student training 3 days a week would train 156 days a year. In 6.4 years they would accumulate 1000 hours. That really should put someone into a serious solid sandan by then. And a good school should be able to deliver that.

Are you criticizing the organizations for delaying awarding a certificate past a timeframe that you think is appropriate? Or are you saying that these organizations aren't offering decent training, such that a trainee can go longer than 300 hours over three years and still not be up to some level?

if the former...I am not sure what the substance of that criticism actually is. You are basically saying some organizations sandbag and turn out yudansha with higher levels of skill than other organizations. Big whoop? In BJJ a blackbelt is equivalent to a sandan or yondan in Japanese gendai art terms.

If the latter, then I think that's a very different discussion than the one we are actually having. It would involve proposing what makes a shodan, analyzing or even just speculating on what different organizations emphasize in their training, talking about what qualities that are entirely separate from mastery of the art go into being a yudansha in different organizations (personal qualities, whether they show up for seminars, whether they are on a track to be an instructor, how frequently they show up on volunteer days to clean the dojo, etc).

It seems like you are arguing over whether or not a piece of paper is handed out without articulating an opinion as to what the piece of paper can or should mean.